The
Toyman is the name of three
comic book supervillains and one adolescent
superhero in the
DC
Comics universe. They mostly appear
in
Superman stories. The first Toyman
appeared in
Action Comics #64
(September 1943). His real name is
Winslow
Schott.
The Toyman uses toy-based or toy-themed devices and gimmicks in his
various crimes. The Toyman's weapons, while sometimes comical, are
also very dangerous. The Toyman's creations include devices such as
life-sized wind-up tanks, acid-spraying water pistols, and toy
soldiers that carry real guns. The Toyman usually dresses in a
flamboyant costume. The Toyman made frequent appearances in the
Golden Age comics, but has
appeared infrequently in
Superman stories since
then.
Winslow Schott
The Toyman first appeared in 1943 and appeared in several
Golden Age Superman
stories. Schott appeared less frequently in comics published after
the early 1950s, but remained a semi-regular foe during the 60s,
70s, and 80s.
After 1985's miniseries
Crisis on Infinite Earths and
John Byrne's
Man of Steel miniseries, the
Toyman's history was revised, and the
post-Crisis version of
the character first appeared in
Superman (vol. 2) #13
(January 1988).
In this version, Winslow Schott is an
unemployed British
toymaker who
blames Lex Luthor and his company,
LexCorp, for being fired from the toy
company he is working for. He uses his toymaking talents to
seek revenge, which eventually causes him to cross paths with the
British hero
Godiva, and
subsequently,
Superman himself. The Toyman
continues to commit various crimes in
Metropolis, including engaging in
child abduction.
The Toyman later became a much more sinister figure, shaving his
head and getting advice in his head from "Mother". This was
prompted by him being told that a range of Superman
action figures would not include him as he is
not "edgy" enough. While this seems to begin as a pose of what he
thought people expect of a villain, it rapidly became a genuine
psychotic break. While in this state
he abducts and later murdered Adam Morgan, the son of
Daily Planet reporter
Cat Grant. Adam and several other children
captured by Toyman tried to escape, but Schott found out and
stabbed Adam to death for being the leader of the group. This
caused Schott to develop a hatred of children, as he blamed them
for not appreciating his toys. At the time, Schott shows no remorse
for what he had done. When Cat Grant later confronts him in prison
he cruelly tells her "You were a bad mommy. I'm glad I killed your
son."
The Toyman later seemingly recovered, and Superman showed him that
children did appreciate old-fashioned toys, arranging parole in an
orphanage; it was later revealed, however,
that this was all a
hallucination
caused when
Zatanna attempts to cure him and
he had, in fact, returned to child abduction.
Winslow was seen in the
Infinite
Crisis: Villains United
special, preparing for the
Blackgate Prison break by lacing the
dinner stew with
Venom and
Velocity 9 to increase
the prisoners' strength, speed, and aggression. Unfortunately, some
guards also ate the drugged stew and fought the superheroes who
showed up to stop the criminals.
He was later seen as a member of the
Injustice League in the
Justice League of America Wedding
Special.
Toyman's history was later revised in
Action Comics #865,
by
Geoff Johns and
Jesus Merino. Winslow Schott tells
Jimmy Olsen that he was a toymaker who lived
with his wife Mary. When a businessman offered to buy his shop to
expand the number of children his toys can reach, he refused. When
Mary is killed in a car accident a few weeks later, Schott agrees
to the purchase. However, the businessman lied and gave his
technologically advanced toy plans to arms manufacturers. Schott
proceeds to bomb the business with an explosive
teddy bear.
Following his first confrontation with Superman, Schott met the
Prankster for the first time. The
Prankster is a cruel, callous man who commits crimes "because it's
fun." He repeatedly asked Schott to "team up", but Schott
refused.
Schott reveals to Jimmy that the Toyman who killed Adam Grant was a
robot created by Schott to replace him in the event that he was
ever incarcerated and that a glitch in the robot's programming
resulted in it developing a personality, (and later a hatred of
children), and that Schott's repeated attempts to contact the robot
resulted in it suffering from delusions of "Mother". This was
confirmed in
Superman Secret Files 2009.
In the
1997 Speed Force Special, the Max
Mercury story Child's Play, set in 19th century
New
York
, featured the Schott Toy Company run by Archimedes
Schott, a crooked businessman who resembles Winslow. Any
relationship between them is unknown.
Alternate Appearances
The Toyman appears as part of the new Legion of Doom in
Alex Ross' miniseries
Justice. He is one of several
supervillains who've been secretly infected with microscopic robots
by the alien
Brainiac, causing him
to have supposedly
prescient
dreams in which the Earth is destroyed, and the superheroes are
unable to save the world's populace. Thus, the Toyman is driven to
aid in a scheme to sidetrack the
Justice
League while also helping to build mobile cities which
supposedly will serve as
interstellar
arks, one such ark being a massive amusement park for the
children being "rescued". The Toyman operates mostly through a
remote-controlled arsenal and robots which resemble the Jack
Nimball Toyman as a life-sized (or gigantic) puppet. The Toyman is
only fully seen in the last issue - he is the Winslow Schott
version, but now morbidly obese, having been kept immobile by
cybernetic connections which give him control over his toys.
Jack Nimball
In the 1970s, a man named
Jack Nimball assumes the
identity of the second Toyman during a period in which Schott
retires from his criminal career and first appeared in
Action
Comics #432 (February 1974). Nimball, wore a
jester costume and used a similar modus operandi to
the original Toyman. However, this version of Toyman proved
short-lived. Schott killed Nimball and resumed his crime career in
Superman (vol. 1) #305.
Nimball appears as one of Schott's androids in
Action
Comics #865.
The version of the Toyman who appears in
Challenge of the Super
Friends was based on Nimball.
Hiro Okamura
Hiro Okamura, is a teenage
mechanical genius from Japan
first
appearing as Toyman in Superman #177 (February
2002). He targets
Metallo, claiming
the cyborg's body was based on a material stolen from his
grandfather.
He later becomes an ally to Superman and
Batman. In the
Superman/Batman series, he aids the two
in destroying a
kryptonite meteor that
threatens the Earth (
Superman/Batman #1-6). He strikes a
deal with Batman to provide him with various technological
implements (
Superman/Batman #7). Okamura uses more
technologically advanced devices than the traditionally-constructed
contrivances Schott uses and his work is largely whimsical in
nature. Many of his inventions are inspired by
anime and
manga, including giant
mecha (notably his giant Composite
Batman-Superman robot).
Okamura appears only a few times in the
Superman/Batman
comic book, and his activities are limited to Japan. Winslow Schott
remains active as the Toyman in the United States. In the
Sam Loeb-penned memorial issue
Superman/Batman #26, Okamura fakes his own kidnapping at
the hands of Schott, forcing
Superboy and
Robin to search through his complex to
save his life. Realizing his loneliness, Superboy and Robin extend
their friendship to the boy. Okamura joins Robin and the other
Teen Titans at
Titans Tower for Superboy's funeral, clutching
a Superboy
action figure.
In
Superman/Batman #45, he offers to assist the duo in
their quest to rid the world of
Kryptonite, using spider-like
nanobots to collect Kryptonite molecules in the air.
His offer becomes a necessity as
Lana
Lang, in a last-ditch effort to get rid of
Kryptonians and keep
LexCorp afloat, turns a set of Kryptonite caches
into "
dirty bombs", which irradiate the
entire planet. Hiro comes to the rescue, settling for a
Power Girl-bot to "date".
Instead, he gets his
dream date, a dinner in Paris
with the
real Karen, and the status of honorary member of the Justice League.
A future version of Hiro, allied with a power-hungry group of
Titans, travels back in time to modern
day to cement their power-base in
Teen Titans #52 (Jan.
2008).
Hiro appears as one of Schott's androids in
Action Comics
#865, as well as
Superman/Batman: Public
Enemies.
Toyman (robot)
A robot Toyman surfaces in Metropolis and allies with
Lex Luthor in
Action Comics #837 (May
2006). His appearance, inspired by the character's
Superman: The Animated
Series incarnation, is that of a child-sized doll. As part
of his bargain with Luthor, he is given the information needed to
find his creator Winslow Schott in exchange for assistance in a
plot against Superman.
This Toyman, renamed
Toyboy, is shown amongst
Schott's other robots in
Action Comics #865.
On the cover of
Justice League of America (vol. 2) #13, it
shows this android Toyman as a member of the
Injustice League.
In other media
Television
- The Toyman first appears in animated form in The New Adventures of
Superman animated series from 1966. This particular Toyman
is the original Winslow Schott version.
- The Superboy
live-action television series features a villain named Nick Knack,
a reference to the Toyman . The character, played by Gilbert Gottfried, wears childlike
clothing. Gottfried appeared in two episodes and wrote a story
featuring the character for the Superboy tie-in comics series.
- A character named Winslow P. Schott appears in the Lois and
Clark Christmas episode "Seasons
Greedings" played by Sherman
Hemsley. With a similar background to the post-Crisis Schott in
the comics, he creates a toy that causes children to become selfish
and adults to act like children. Unlike past versions he shows a
genuine love for children and turns over a new leaf toward the end
of the episode. He is referred to only once as being "a toyman" in
passing onscreen. A later episode features a childlike character
named Toyman (played by Grant Shaud) who
abducts children. His real identity is Harold Kripstly.
- The episode "Beware the Gray
Ghost" of Batman:
The Animated Series features a villain called 'The Mad
Bomber', who was possibly influenced by Toyman (although he might
also have been influenced by the Puppet Master , a villain fought
by the Golden Age Batman and Robin in Detective Comics
vol. 1, #212), who uses customized toys based on a line of Gray Ghost (voiced by Adam West, who portrayed Batman in the 1960s television show) merchandise to
carry bombs and hold Gotham City's
economic centers ransom. He becomes more Toyman-like as the episode
progresses, stating his delusional belief that toys are a powerful
all-purpose tool. The Bomber is voiced by (and also resembles) the
series' designer/producer Bruce Timm. His
real name is Ted Dymer.
- A much more disturbing and creepy Toyman appears in the 1990s
series Superman: The
Animated Series, voiced by Bud
Cort. He is an insane man who wears an eversmiling mask similar
to a doll's head, which he is never seen without. His arsenal of
weapons includes a giant superball that can smash concrete and an
"inescapable" bubble-blower. In this version, Winslow Schott, Jr.
is the son of a kindly toymaker, who spent all day in his father's
shop watching him make toys. Winslow Schott, Sr. dreamed of
building a toy factory, but lack of capital prevented it. Infamous
Metropolis mobster Bruno Mannheim offered to bankroll Schott to
build the toy factory, but unbeknownst to Schott, Mannheim used it
as a front for a numbers racket. When
the police uncovered the scheme, the gangsters fled, leaving the
elder Schott to be framed for running the operation and falsely
imprisoned for embezzlement. Schott
eventually died in prison, and Winslow was left on his own and
spent several years in abusive and neglectful foster home. By the time he reached adulthood,
Winslow was mentally ill. Making use of his natural aptitude for
mechanics, he decided to make up for his ruined childhood by
terrorizing the world and stealing money to amass his own personal
fortune. Toyman appears in two episodes: "Fun and Games" and
"Obsession." His plans revolve around Darcy, a lifelike android
created to be his companion, but he also seeks revenge against
Bruno Mannheim, the criminal who wronged
his father, and against Superman for foiling his schemes.
- This Toyman also appears in Static
Shock, again voiced by Bud Cort.
In the episode "Toys in the Hood," Toyman (who is revealed to have
survived the events of "Obsession" after his helicopter is
destroyed) orders Darcy to capture Static's friend Daisy so she can
serve as a model for Darcy's nanite-constructed new body. After Superman and
Static confront Toyman, Darcy betrays Toyman and tries to escape,
only to discover that Toyman had implanted a fail-safe device
programmed to have the nanites destroy her if she turns on him.
Darcy's body melts, and Toyman is taken to jail.
Toyman in the
Justice League
animated series.
- In the Justice
League episode "Hereafter," Toyman (voiced by Corey Burton) is a member of the Superman Revenge Squad. During their
attack on the city of Metropolis, he uses an experimental machine
(which resembles a giant toy robot) that can fire blasts of energy
from its "chest". Toyman first targets innocent bystanders before
trying to blast Superman. Toyman then fires a blast at Batman and the injured Wonder
Woman. To save his friends, Superman flies straight into the
blast and is sent 30,000 years into the future. Everyone, including
Toyman himself, believes that Superman had been vaporized. Batman
was the only one not to believe Superman was dead as he deduced
that there would be remains. It was later revealed that Superman
had been sent to the future but came back thanks to a time machine
invented by Vandal Savage (who
reformed in the future).
- In Justice League
Unlimited, Toyman is a member of Grodd's new Secret Society. He is
prominently featured in the episode "Alive!", in which he becomes
the pilot of the Secret Society's spaceship. When a riot erupts and
divides the villains into two factions, he holds his own and
defeats Killer Frost with a headbutt,
cracking his mask on the side, and a few tricks with a heavily
rigged yo-yo. In the following Justice
League Unlimited episode "Destroyer", the series finale,
Toyman is briefly shown firing what appear to resemble Nerf darts at Darkseid's
parademons. What makes these darts deadly
is that they cause the Parademons to explode shortly after impact.
He is one of a handful of Secret Society villains to survive the
series finale. Bud Cort reprises him
here.
- Toyman appears in Smallville, in the fourteenth episode of the
show's eighth season, titled "Requiem". Actor Chris Gauthier portrays Winslow Schott, a
toymaker and former Queen Industries employee with a grudge against
Oliver Queen. Winslow
Schott is a scientific inventor at STAR Labs who was hired by
Oliver Queen to work for Queen Industries. A great mind, though a
bit eccentric, he expressed his individuality by bringing toys to
work. However, he went too far when he began putting explosives in
toys, which caused his immediate termination from the company. He
is revealed to be working for Lex Luthor, currently disfigured and
partially crippled, and hiding in a mobile base. He speaks to
Luthor through a camera and microphone concealed in a wooden doll's
head, and uses toys such as an exploding Newton's Cradle, knockout gas-filled
Mylar balloons, and an explosive cymbal-clanging monkey. After
he fails twice to kill Oliver, he escapes police custody. Oliver
Queen blows up Lex's mobile base with one of Toyman's toys in order
to frame Schott, which put's him on the run. In that episode,
Clark Kent referred to him as "Toyman"
but most of the time he was referred as Toymaker; and is also
referred to as "Toyboy". In the season 9 episode "Echo" he is
referred as Toyman by himself, Chloe Sullivan, Clark and the
Daily Planet. He attempts to
test Clark by leaving a bomb next to a group of bound and gagged
men and women he had kidnapped, eventually leading to Clark using
his superspeed to rescue them. In that same episod,e he returns
attempts to kill Oliver Queen as revenge for being framed for Lex's
demise. This episode also has an android
version of Schott. After he is caught, and facing time in solitary
confinement, Tess Mercer visits Schott
in jail and gives him the Kryptonite-powered heart to study which Zod and his men created to power Metallo in previous episodes.
- Toyman appears briefly in the season five episode of
The Batman entitled
"Lost Heroes" (Part One), and is voiced by Richard Green. This incarnation wears
a jester's costume, likely a nod to the early and brief Nimball
version. His costume is red, yellow, and green, much like the
costume he is wearing in Plastic Man, but
a little different in design. Batman muses that a psychiatrist
could make a whole career out of Toyman, though Superman warns not
to underestimate him. He faces off against Batman and Superman with
his toys and high-tech punching gloves. It is possible that like
other versions, he is partially insane or fully. He ends up knocked
out by some bombs. He should not be confused with Toymaker, another character created
specifically for the show and who shares his toy-based M.O.
- A character named Fun Haus (voiced by Gary Anthony Williams) was shown in an
episode of Batman:
The Brave and the Bold entitled "Invasion of the Secret
Santas" which he takes on Batman and
Red Tornado. Fun Haus' appearance is
clearly based on the Jack Nimball version of Toyman ; although he
appears more muscular with an everlasting smile, similar to that of
the Toyman that appeared in Superman: The Animated
Series. He planned on robbing various homes using action figures he created called "Presto
Playpals"; when he was cornered by Batman and Red Tornado he merged
the action figures into a giant robot and attempted to destroy them
along with the families he had robbed. Ultimately he was stopped by
Red Tornado, who pushed himself to the point of self destruction.
Beside the aforementioned action figures, Fun Haus used toy
flying saucers, robot
Santas, and an exploding doll that
looked like Baby
Doll from Batman:
The Animated Series. His name, the MO of evil toys, and
the logo came from FunHous Games, a company from the Silicon
Syndicate in DC Comics. He has since had cameo appearances in
several subsequent episodes.
Film
- In the unproduced screenplay for Batman vs.
Superman, Toyman makes a brief appearance as a reformed
criminal that Batman interrogates and tortures in order to locate
the Joker. When they are attacked by
one of the Joker's deadly gadgets, Batman narrowly escapes, leaving
Toyman to be caught in an explosion. His fate is not revealed in
the script.
- Toyman appears as a minor villain in the DTV movie,
Superman: Doomsday
voiced by John DiMaggio. Like most of
the characters in this film, his appearance differs from that of
the DCAU Toyman, and he is
portrayed in a more deranged and unkempt form. In the movie, Toyman
appears after Superman dies during a fight with Doomsday. Toyman (referred to in this
movie as Winslow Schott) first uses a giant spider-like robot to
hold a school bus full of children hostage after he robs a bank.
After a secret clone of Superman defeats him, he attempts to go
on the lam. Although police do recapture
him, he kills a four-year-old girl offscreen during the capture.
The Superman clone upon hearing the news angrily takes Toyman from
the police outside the police department and drops him to his death
from high above the city.
Video Games
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